Archives

Antoine's letter

Memories

Memorabilia

2019 The Voice

Congratulations to Maxime, in The Voice : I had fun the other day watching Maxime's show on the French edition of The Voice; this guy looks very cool and I wish him success ... and to continue having fun and traveling.

1970 Le petit escalier

Extracted from a "portrait francophone" I didn't like much, this version of "L'eau a monté (water as risen)..." ... I did not quite understand what the director had meant! The filming took place in and in front of the little house I had near Molitor swimming pool, and that I had to sell to be able to go sailing around the world; we went back there recently, the house has been completely redone, luxurious, not like when I lived there!

2017 Maison des Océans

December 2017, I discovered the fascinating House of Oceans, at the top of the Rue St Jacques in Paris, during a conference Connaissance du Monde (Knowledge of the World). I will return for three conferences the following year. France O, the channel of Outremers, has come to interview me(as well as some of the spectators).

1966, Main dans la main

One of my first appearances on television (not the very first one, that happened on election night in December 19654; this on was shot in January 1966; the flowered shirt (the first one I owned), had been bought in the women's department of a store in Grenoble.

2018, Sakebon

In a very active street of Papeete, I have been a victim of a gentle prank : Sakebon, a Tahitian production; I didn't really understand what it was all about, but my Crocs were quite visible.

2010, Solidair

Following Haiti's earthquake, I had contributed to a video with Caribbean musicians; we just returned from Haïti, which still needs help.

1978, RTBF

A beard's story : Late 70s... coming back from Australia or Djibouti, I do not know, I had, for no reason, and practically for the only time in 45 years, the idea of shaving; when I get back to Francette's, she looks at me, intrigued: "You have something changed ..." it took her a moment to realize what it was! As for the marketing director of Barclay, where my first album on this label had been released, he told me: "It's clever, you have to redo the photos of all the promotional material!

1973, In France's central Mountains

Francette and I, it's a long story, soon 45 years part-time 25 full-time ! We both thought you might enjoy seeing the beginning of it all, as a complement to the pretty picture of us two taken 45 years later, this month on the southern shore of New Zealand, in Tautuku Bay.

1992, Double Jeu

Thierry Ardisson's last "Double Jeu"...
I do not feel tempted to participate in « modern » TV programs getting more polemic each year, but I have a pleasant memory of the last installment of Thierry Ardisson's " Double jeu" program, where I was invited in 1992 together with my late friend the French singer Carlos, and Caribbean singing lady Jocelyne Beroard

1997 France 2 TV News

1997, the third set of 3 videos in the series « Once Upon an Island is released by Warner Home Video, and I talk about them on France 2 TV news, before flying back to my catamaran Banana Split in South Africa, to pass the Cape of Good Hope, and to sail towards St Helena Island, Ascension , Guyane and the Caribbean.

Départ Banana Split

1989-90: Two great summits of my life: the extraordinary success at Gallimard of my first photo album, Iles ... était une fois, which will give birth to an inexhaustible series of books and documentary films, and the launching of my third boat, the catamaran Banana Split; 28 years later, it is on Banana Split that I keep sailing; in Port Camargue, I was getting the boat ready before heading back to the tropics.

APAJH Trophies

On November 7th, the 13th edition of the APAJH Trophies, Association for Disabled Adults and Youth gathered around 1,300 people at the Carrousel du Louvre. I was part of it, with French singers Philippe Lavil and Jacob Desvarieux; I took out my venerable harmonica to sing my hit of the sixties, Les Elucubratyions d'Antoine.

Atol in Cuba : beauty contest

A memory of a shooting in Cuba , one of the amusing TV ads for ATOL (a French chain of optometrists) shot in 2006 on a beach near la Havana, under the direction of Karl Zero (Directrice de Création, Madeleine Danielsson)

Al Dorsey...

Polynesia's main TV station has recently broadcast a short cameo I was asked to perform in a series adapted from the "Al Dorsey" detective stories penned by French writer Patrice Guirao, also the author of many songs, including those featured in huge musicals performed in Paris. In this excerpt, I play the part of a dreamer.. who dreams of doing like Antoine !

Around the world with songs

Archives in an archive...
This month's memorabilia is extracted from a very recent Television program, but it is composed only of memorabilia, including a few shots I had never seen yet of the sails of my first boat, the schooner Om, in 1974 ! Of course, one more time, the producer has been incapable of resisting including the picture of Francette and I in our birthday suist excerpted from our film Iles Lointaines !

Marie Marie

Another excerpt from the « Portrait francophone » , here is the the song Marie Marie, filmed in rue d'Hauteville's Vogue studios, which I had been practically the first to use to record my hit alum « Les Elucubrations d'Antoine ».

A clown and a tight rope walker

One more TV show of which I kept absolutely no memory; it surfaced in the « portrait Francophone » I was never really fond of. But this rief encounter with a then extremely popular French clown, Achille Zavata, revives for a moment an entertaining memory; as a onus, in the « Portrait » you can also glimpse an instant of my short carreer as a tight rope walker, which even led me one day to cross a river on a tight rope.

1966 Ne t'en fais pas pour ceux là,ils rêvent

OK, one more excerpt from my first show a Paris... Olympia in 1966; I opened the show wearing - following a suggestion by my manager Christian Fechner - this red vinyl jacket.. It must have felt very hot in that ! The song itself was certainly inspired partly by Bob Dylan's « Ballad of a thin man » , ut mostly from my favorite book at the time, crazy French novel Bradfer et l'eternel.

1966 Pourquoi ces canons?

May 1966, my first show at the top of the bill at Paris'Olympia theatre; my backing group is "les Problèmes », a rock group that will soon have an incredible success in many countries as slapstick comedians « Crazy boys »; but for this song, « Pourquoi ces Canons » three acoustic musicians appear; i was young and didn't know the usage, and I din't even thank them nor introduced them at the end of the song: guys, a little late, please accept my apologies !

1970 Canelle

La Tête de l'Art was a tiny cabaret ( 100 people made a full house) located at one end of Avenue de l'Opéra, in Paris ; the most famous singers and stand-up comedians used to perform there, and I did several times, each time for 3 or 4 weeks. Here, I rehearse my French hit « Je l'appelle Canelle », with, on the guitar, François Renoult, composer of many of my songs in those times, and the father of very popular French artist Stanislas. The long haired guy on keyboards, Jacques Verrecchia, later became a lawyer with clients such as French Rock star Johnny Hallyday. At the end of the video, on the right, you can catch a glimpse of Georges Leroux, the sympathetic parody for all the "Impresari" ! of the time.

1972 Chasse à Courre

This single, published, I believe, in 1972, didn't meet with great success, although its two songs had been written by to very famous French authors; a mysterious sender just sent me, without a word of explanation, three TV programs shot around that date, serious materials for our « archives » page for the next few moths. For today, « Chasse à Courre » written by very successful French author and singer Eric Charden, with a very seventy-isa, countryside, hippie feeling.

2013 Télé Vendée

In 2013, during a previous tour of lectures with "Connaissance du Monde" ( Knowledge of the World) a pleasant interview on a local TV network, Télé Vendée ( in French)...

1970 Mon auto m'attend

I've told in my autobiography how two successive flat tyres on my Renault 4CV, when I was a student, changed my life, leading me to return on foot to get my car, which i had abandoned under trees, and how I had on that occasion discovered the beatniks who occupied Paris' Vert Galant Square, on the banks of river Seine. Two years later, i dedicated a song "Mon auto m'attend" ( "My Car's waiting for me") to that decisive moment in my life. The strange rendering in this element (en excerpt from a "Francophone portrait" of 1970 doesn't really catch the magic of that instant, but it's the sole video of that song I have ever found.

1989 L'île Bleue

I tell you in this month's letter about the joys and problems we've been having with using our first drone. As I did, I remembered my first aerial shooting, in 1989, that of the video for my song "L'île bleue" (The Blue Island) : for the Polynesian part of the video, the dance with the beautiful Tahitian woman, Ethel, we had to rent a helicopter, and I discovered the infinite possibilities of aerial shooting in places as spectacular as these. Today, this aerial footage could very easily have been taken with a drone.

1970 Portrait francophone

1970 France's "second channel", then the only one boasting programs in color, broadcasts "Francophone portraits". In the istallment dedicated to me, the pepetual tongue-in-cheek tone of the commentator doesn't reveal in him a great passion for my activities of that time ( tap dancing, singng lessons, engineering projects), but I retain a pleasant memory of the extremely dynamic shooting of a video of my adaptation of the great UK success "Abergavenny", under the title "Abracadabra"; at the end of the shooting, I must have been really out of breath !

1992 Thalassa part 3

1992 : Following the success met with my first documentary film, the very popular French TV program Thalassa, offers to broadcast a long portrait, I welcome them aboard Banana Split in Saint Martin and surroundings islands in the Caribbean.

1966 A tous Vents...part 2

I have little memory of this TV show, which was shot in Paris at the end of 1966's summer; the song ( approximately « What the f.. am i doing here ? » was a way for me to express how ill at ease I felt in show-business.

1966 A tous Vents

I have little memory of this TV show, which was shot in Paris at the end of 1966's summer; the song ( approximately « What the f.. am i doing here ? » was a way for me to express how ill at ease I felt in show-business.

1994 Les Beatles

In 1994, EMI releases a Beatles album incuding 71 songs performed between 1962 and 1965 in the BBC's studios. LIVE AT THE BBC will sell more than 8 million copies worldwide before the end of the year. French TV channel FR3 invited me to commet on that release..

1969 Mardi Gras Story

In 1969, just after singing « Cos'hai messo nel Caffè at San Remo's Festival, I returned to France, and was asked to write the official song of Nice's Carnival. I imagine it was around the date of that year...s « Mardi Gras » that was recorded this pretty messy program. I experienced again this festive/far west ambiance about a year later, during a great show in Paris legendary music hall Gaumont Palace.

1967 L'Alienazione

At the end of 1966, I have finally succeeded in decorating the small studio where I've settled when I feft the student's residence, and mostly with gadgets brought back from my journey to New York or from Carnaby Street. The madness of my first French hit is calming down, that of my first Italian one, l "Le Pietre" will start within two months ; and I take the time to learn talking Italian by recording translations of ten of my first songs, all adapted by the great Italian poet Herbert Pagani.
I had totally forgotten that I had written on my wall « Folk you », a sentence that could have been found 18 months later on Paris' walls during May 68's events!

2012 Olympia

Non, non, non at the Olympa Music Hall in 2012 On November 14 2012, I sang at Paris' famed Music Hall, l'Olympia, where I have sang many times, including two two-week stints in 1966 and 1969 and a duet with Jimmy Buffett in 2011 ; here is an extract of my 2012 performance, with a song called "Non, non, non, non..." funny for a guy who reached fame with a song subtitled "Oh Yeah !"...

2014 Nautic

We won't be a the Paris Boat Show this year, so we thought it would be fun to choose as our monthly "video of the past" a short interview registered at last year's Nautic, in the small display we had rented and decorated, and were we welcomed many famous sailors and many fans of our films and books...

1969 Avec Dalida

I had totally forgotten that I had once sung in duet with immense French-Italian-Egyptian star Dalida a version of her most famous song, "Bambino" : in Italian, "Guaglione", it was sung also by great American Pop Star Connie Francis...

1992 Thalassa- part 2

1992 Thalassa-Part 1

1992 : From a 80 day journey arond the world, I just brought back my first video, "Amoureux de la Terre", wich has won a "gold" video cassette ; then I produce my first video in the "Once upon an island" series, that will be later shown on Discovery's Travel Channel ; then France's top sea adventures TV program, Thalassa, proposes to shoot a long portrait of yours truly... Since then I have produced and directed more than 30 travel documentaries

2012 Lindsay

Lindsay, a yound Belgian singer, sung "Mes rêves" on Eurovision Juniors contest 2005... in 2012, then a teenager, she had fun recording a lively version of my first hit "les Elucubrations".

1977 Lolita

At the end of 1976, as I arrived from Brazil on board my first boat, the schooner Om, I reached the French island of Martinique. I have absolutely no memory of the shooting of this video. Maybe it was during the shooting of an installment of a very popular French midday show called Midi Première. It was probably shot on the beach of one of those lovely small coves called "anses" which you'll discover as of next October, in our new film about the Caribbean.

1989 L'Ile bleue

One day in September 1986, four friends, great navigators who where getting ready the first solo sailing race around the World, Vendée Globe, Loick Peyron, Philippe Poupon, Titouan Lamazou and Jean-Yves Terlain, agreed to record for me chorus of a song called "L'île Bleue " , the blue island.

1974 Depart en bateau

At the end of september 1974, in Marseille's Old Port, I was getting ready to leave very soon to sail around the world.
I thought this cruising life would last 5 os 6 years..It has lasted more than 40 years so far !

1973 Dede

In 1972, the art of the musical was largely ignored in France. I , for one, dreamt of singing, dancing, playing comedy as some great American artists do ... so I decided to produce myself one of the classics of operetta, the French equivalent of the musical, "Dede", who had been originally created by Maurice Chevalier; and we really enjoyed ourselves, like the day we went to play on the set of a very famous French TV show the scene where we sing and dance with James Sparrow, the late Corinne Le Poulain and the whole troop, Maurice Chevalier's greatest hit, "Dans la vie faut pas s'en faire"... and when I look at the little dance we performed during the musical bridge, I find that I did pretty well ! The whole business eventuallycost me a lot of money, I had to sell my house in Boulogne, and once all debts and taxes had been paid, I was left with enough money to buy my first boat ...somehow Dede was decisive for me!

1966 Avec Dali

One summer day in 1966, when beer bottles and tomatoes often used to fly through the arenas and open-air theaters of our summer tour, I received a surprising invitation from famous French TV director Jean-Christophe Averty who proposed to include me in the " Soft Portrait" he was directing of the great Salvador Dalì; we were soon on our way to the Spanish border and the village of Port Lligat, where the master lived ; a really crazy afternoon : beside of a phallus shaped swimming pool, Dalì had set a life-size stucco camel, inside which operated a television set which could only be watched by sticking an eye to a hole drilled in the animal's belly. Dali made his well-rehearsed performance, I tried to follow him, Gala did seem to bother, and I took refuge for a moment with Amanda Lear, Dalì, who lived a very close relationship with the couple. In the evening, Dalì asked to see me on stage in Céret's arena, "Do not worry about me, he said, I will go incognito "; when I went on stage, Dalì was camped in the middle of the arena , at the audiences first rank, on a royal chair, flanked by Gala's and his assistant's armchairs, and his favorite ocelot Babou ; and we never managed to keep a picture of that !

2010 Sorbonne

A souvenir of 2010 : The manager of my sponsor, a group of French optometrists, ATOL, was the godfather of the new promotion at La Sorbonne, a famous French university in Paris whose students favour the same black robe and square hat as students in American universities. They have backed me in a pretty disorderly rendition of my hit of 1966, Les Elucubrations.

2013 Des cheveux et des hommes

Another documentary film about hairstyles... And I've been asked to participate in another one, based in « hairstyle and rebellion » in the coming months...

2008 Le Parisien

Whenever I am in the region of Paris, I am lucky enogh to live on an island, outside Paris, between two arms of the river Seine; a pretty walkway follows the riverside, and ducks often come to see me wehn Iwalk along it. It's often there that I give appointment to journalists when they want to interview me in pleasant settings; I do not remember the contents of this interview in particular, I will discover it again with you...

2002 Petit Journal

In November of 2002, I sang at Paris... famed club Le Petit Journal Montparnasse, and, together with several singers and friends, French author-composer and singer Hervé Cristiani has accepted to come and sing with me verses of his huge French hit « Il est libre max ». I was very proud when he compared me to the song's character, Max, a free man who used to ride comets at the fall of day.

1966 Dites moi ma mère...

in 1969, I was invited to sing this song during a show in memory of the great Maurice Chevalier, who had created it around 1930 I was so impressed by the effect this song had on audiences that I sung it in all my shows for many years.ici

1966 Nadine

I hold no memory of the shooting of this video of my song "Nadine" ( (fall of 1966), neither of its director ; he did however have his style, with that endless panning shot during whhich Ican be heard, but not seen util one minute from the start ! Yet this shot has the advantage of paying tribute to a forgotten French car, a brand that has disappeared, but to which my family had been truthful for many years, a Panhard...

1997 Les Enfoirés

On a regular Basis French singing stars get together to gather the financing for a chain of restaurants ofering meals to poor people, the « Restaurants of the Heart » ; I have never been asked to sing with them (maybe they asked while I was on the other side of the planet), but I was present once in one of their show ... with a song, that was sung by two famous French Artists ; in the choir was French Rock And Roll star Johnny Hallyday, whom I had made fun of in that song ; that was 33 years before, and it was fun to see him join in shouting « Oh Yeah »

1966 V comme Vacancier

One more excerpt of a TV portrait done in 1966, in which I was asked questions about as stupid as the answers I gave ; yet, what a head of hair I had !

1970 La sbornia

The original version of this song "Lily the pink" was all about a strange "Medicinal compound". French singer Richard Anthony recorded a version where the medicine was called "Sirop typhon" ( Typhoon syrup) ; the italian songwriter who wrote the italian words decidedly headed toward wine drinking , and the names of several famous italian wines can be found in this version.

2008 Paris boat show

This year we have only made a quick appearance at the Paris Boat Show; as a compensation, a short filmed element shot a few years ago.

1966 Vivre sans maison

During the summer of 1966, after my first two hits in France, I had to record a new "extended play" 4-track 45 rpm disc ; it included two songs that never found their way onto any of my albums, among which "Qu'est ce que ça peut faire de vivre sans maison" , a title closely related to Dylan's "How does it feel to be without a home".. in fact, it hadn't occurred to me yet that one could live without a home.. on a sailboat !

2012 TNTV

In Tahiti, our films are regularly featured on local channel TNTV. Director Axel Lichtlé, who had taken part in the filming of my first documentary about Polynesia in 1993, has chosen to dedicate a whole program to my song "Touchez pas à la mer" ("Do not harm the sea"), relating how it was written, and its numerous evolutions...

2012 RTL

It was my first album in 25 years...will the next one be for the year 2037? In any case, here is a pleasant memory: recording the song « Demain Cayenne » live at leading French radio station RTL's « Grand Studio » show...

2002 Jean Marie Périer

In France, during the sixties, Salut Les Copains was the magazine to read to know everything bout singing stard; the magazine's leading photographer , Jean-Marie Périer, was as much a star as Johnny Hallyday or Françoise Hardy. In 2002, as a special feature for a DVD of a show I gave at Paris' famous club Le Petit Journal Montparnasse, I made that wonderful interview of Jean-Marie, were we remembered those joyous years (in French only)

2009 Adriana Karembeu

On a settee with beautiful top model Adriana Karembeu...
A few years ago, the team of my sponsor, ATOL ( association of optometrists) asked me tio compare the way I used to shout their motto « ATOL, les opticiens » and the way Adriana used to whisper it... A fundamental, essential debate.

2010 Olympia with Jimmy Buffet

Jimmy Buffett is a huge star in the U.S., where he continuously sings to audiences of tens of thousands of parrotheads, fans wearing floral shirts, plush hats shaped like parrots, hence their nickname, and, who, while queuing for Jimmy's show, down hectoliters of Margarita (his number one hit, Margaritaville, has long been the american anthem for beaches and beach bars). In September 2011, he invited me to sing with him at the Olympia one of his songs "Chanson pour les petits enfants," and I keep of that day a wonderful memory. For those who would like to discover Jimmy Buffet, note that he's coming back to Paris, and will be at La Cigale on September 28...

2012 RTL

November 2012, as part of the promotion of my new album "Demain Loin", i sing my biggest hit "Les éclucubrations" in the "Grand Studio" of the radio station RTL.. a studio I have known for... 47 years..

2012 Antoine et Stanislas

In October 2012, I released my first album of songs in... 25 years ! With French singer Stanislas, in the building of SACEM, the French author rights society, we reminisce the way the album was born. ( Interview in French only) ...

1996 Jean Dujardin

French actor Jean Dujardin, who was awarded an Oscar for his performance in "The Artist", was at the time a comedian, and part of a group called "nou c nou". I who enjoyed showing the positive d-face of the countries I vista, I never enjoyed very much their picturing of a tropical country full of trigger-happy soldiers...

1966 Les Contre-elucubrations

June 1966 After the huge success of my first hIt "les Elucubration's d' Antoine', my manager suggests that my backing group, "les Problemes", record a parody of my song; It s the first sign of their soon to come transformation into a comic group that will meet with huge success in many countries, in particulate throughout Asia, under the name of Crazy Boys"
I have no idea in what TV programthis video (found on the Internet) came from, but the vision of the group's lead singer, the late Gérard Rinaldi, using hammers as drumsticks and an imperturbable bald man's head as drums is worth its weight of capillary lotion. And what is that goat doing at the end of the video ?

2006 Fan d'antoine

This invaluable document dates from around 2006: on a famous french TV program, they found my biggest fan ever ; a role performed by extraordinary Jonathan Lambert...

2000 Bruno de Provence

At the end of the nineties, we produced and shot a series of videos with Bruno, a friend of ours and a very popular chef in Provence; unfortunately, the series never found its way to a TV channel, so it can only be found on a DVD that has become a collector; in one of the subjects, I features as a guest, together with another famous French Chef, Jacques Maximin. A beautiful recipe for "bouillabaisse", a typical fish soup from Provence...

1998 Michel Drucker

About few years ago, Michel Drucker, a French television superstar, asked me about my departure around the word on a sailboat (in French).

1972 Popcorn

The value of this month's memorabilia is not specially the song I sing ( I could have avoided singing this version of a huge instrumental hit, Popcorn), but rather the fact that one can catch a glimpse of a French legend, once a huge star as a ventriloquist and puppet master, with Omer, a boy, then a duck, later a dog names Hercules; He used to star in many shows, such as the French president's christmas party, and numerous television shows. What strikes me the most is the fact that at the age of 47 he has left it all, and lived several years n a tiny island in the Maldives, before settling down in Pattaya, Thailand, and opening a large gay cabaret. His surprising destiny is summed up (in French) on the website :http://thailande-fauxreveur.blog4ever.com/blog/lirarticle-184799-690639.html

1969 Musicolor

It was probably on the 29th of May 69, in a show of the series "Musicolor" produced by Fernand Bonifay, that I sung for the first time a song made famous by Maurice Chevalier, Dites moi ma mère (Tell me ,mother), a song with quite saucy lyrics. Apparently I also sang it in a program in memory of the great Maurice, and it is this record that Guy Lux did broadcast a few years later. The song was such a hit on stage that I kept it for a long time in the setlist of my singing tours.

1971 duo avec Danièle Gilbert

This song was first written for a musical revue in a mythical Parisian Movie Theatre, Gaumont Palace, with 100 dancers, stuntmen, horses, elephant, stagecoach... alas, the show was a flop, and i remained stuck with a song I had written to sing in duet with beautiful dancer Michel Frascoli, who had just starred at the Moulin Rouge... So when I was invited to MC a daily TV show on French television with French entertainer Danielle Gilbert, I decided to recycle the song : from "Scusez-moi M'selle Michele" ( Excuse-me, Miss Michèle), it became "Scusez moi Mselle Danielle"

1970 duo avec Sheila

In 1970, Fernand Bonifay, author of several huge hits in French music, produced a series of shows; on this one, I sang « Du moment qu'on s'aime » (penned by the same Fernand Bonifay) in duet with my good friend, huge pop French singing star Sheila.

1966 New York

End of the year 1966 : at the term of a singing tour of french Canada, I am invited by my agent to spend one day in New York, piloted by a strange couple whom I do not know... and who happen to be... Andy Warhol and Nico, from the Velvet Underground... what a day !

1968 Le match de Football

This video's quality is pretty poor, but it has come a long way... From Rio de Janeiro, where I had been invited, in 1968, to sing a song dedicated to football. I do not remember the name of the player who had presented me, this same afternoon, with the Nr 10 shirt, the most prestigious of all, and of Brazil's most popular team, Flamengo. I had hidden the shirt under my white tuxedo and i had waited till the song's last chorus to take off my jacket.. The crowd went crazy, emitting the loudest howl I've ever heard in a music concert. On the bill that same year were two young singers who had problems with Brazil's right wing government : Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil who ironically became his country's minister of Culture about thirty years later.

2010 Je magazine

An interview ( in French) by a sympathetic lady journalist of a small web site called "Je-Magazine", around 2010

2012 Atol

Antoine and TV star Jean Marc Genereux ( So you think you can dance) discuss Antoine's new "NU" glasses, first in Montreal's language, then in parisian French..

1966 Un éléphant me regarde

This show was probably filmed in the fall of 1966, perhaps at the Locomotive a famous night club in Paris in the sixties, one can recognize famous French singer Jacques Dutronc, newly appeared in the charts who introduces me briefly, one can also see towards the end, my girlfriend at the time, Dominique, and later my bodyguard, Luigi, rushing to protect me while I go on a walkabout ( in the British sense, not the Australian one!).

2002 Patrick Sébastien

A Few years ago French TV star Patrick Sebastien invited me to sing my hit of the sixties "Les Elucubrations". A very happy program, of which Seal, recently invited to the show said : "It's one of the last bastions of popular music on television..

1966 Qu'est ce qui ne tourne pas rond?

I know very little about this program, which was made by a young singer called Dominique Walter, who entered unsuccessfully the Eurovision Song Contest during the same 1966 Year.
The recording must have taken place in the first weeks of that year, for I was not yet wearing the flowered shirt that as to become my trademark when was released my first album, in the month of February of the same year.

1966 Ma fête foraine

In a legendary program of French television, introduced by Michel Drucker ( who, more than 40 years later, keeps presenting the same type of program ), I sung this muscular rendition of one of my songs "Ma fête foraine", which mentioned in metaphors things like racial segregation, apartheid, and other plagues of our world.. Some subjects have become better.. others are still current.

2011 Video ad for cereal Croque Cannelle

Our song "Je l'appelle Canelle" , during the eighties, was used in a seroes of ads for a French maker of honey. This time, it's Quebec that it is used in a pleasant video ad for cereal tasting of "cannelle" (cinnamon)

1969 Venez avec nous

Still another excerpt of that famous 1968 show, in which I sung a little known song "Venez avec nous" ( or "come along with us"), where I tried to express simply my philosophy : "The World is crazy, but to love life, you just have to be as crazy as it is"... Close to ten years later, my friend Jimmy Buffett would sing "If we weren't crazy we would all go insane"

1966 Qu'est ce que je fous ici?

A new extract of a program M.C.d by French legendary TV person Denise Glaser, and in which I sung, in 1966 « Qu'est-ce que je fous ici » or « What the hell am I doing here! ».. That's really what I felt like during the registration !

1966 Discorama

In the spring of 66, as my hit song « Les élucubrations » was creating a lot of turmoil, a famous French lady who M.C.d a music show filmed me. For an unknown reason, the show was broadcast only six months later. I was never really proud of he song "Votez pour moi" (Vote for me) I sing here, but it did open for me a friendship with Brigitte Bardot ( She loved it when I suggested a lottery should be created with Brigitte as the first prize !.)

1969 Show fin année

Excerpted from the same show where I whished a happy year 1969 to the viewers of the second French channel, the fist one to broadcast in color, here is a rendition of my song "Un éléphant me regarde".

1990 Matin Bonheur

1990 a new concept is born on French television, a morning program, two hours in direct, called « Matin bonheur » .. I was invited to one of the first shows.

1968 Bonne Année

1968 was a curious year for my "career" as a pop singer: the rather psychedelic "concept-album" at which I had been working for months was released on May 3rd, 1968, and the turmoil that burst a few days later in France left it no chance in France... Meanwhile, in Italy as in Brazil two very good-natured songs, "La Tramontana" and " The Football Game " brought me so much success that I dedicated myself for some years to this kind of happy-go-lucky songs, which discouraged a few of my early fans... But I believe that we are here on earth above all to be happy and to try to share this happiness with others. My best wishes for the New Year of 1969 (there is a mistake in the final credits) mark the end of a mini-recital given doubtless onto the second channel (because it is one of my first shows broadcast in color), presented by the two leading figures of Paris' "in" nights at the time, Dani and Zouzou...

1990 Journal de RFO

In 1990, the year following the launching of my catamaran Banana Split and the success of my photographic album Îles... était une fois published by leading French publisher Gallimard, I was invited on the news magazine of RFO, the TV station aimed at the French overseas territories : Martinique, Guadeloupe, Tahiti, etc.

1999 sur TF1

It's not the kind of TV program I am used to, they usually deal with Hollywood stars and « beautiful people »... But in 1999, the show called « Exclusive » on France's very popular TF1 channel came to interview me... They were surprised when I gave them a rendezvous in my farm in the central mountains of France, and when I invited the pretty and elegant journalist into the woods.. .to gather mushrooms ! « Nobody had ever tried this with me, she said ! »

1987 Patrick Sabatier

For close to 6 years I haven't had a hit record, nor a book thats sells well; so it is very brave from very popular French TV star Patrick Sabatier to invite we for a whole evening in the « Il était une fois » series he MCs regularly on France's Channel Five; Patrick has always been faithful to me and i'd like to thank him.

1967 Lolita

I think it's the first time I have ever seen this piece of archive ; it must be the only video memory of this song, shot in 1967 in one of the very popular show of French MC Guy Lux. Among the musicians that backed me on stage and on this caribbean fantasy turning to New Orleans at the end, can be seen very talented French guitarist Pierrot Fanen, and the guitarist on the left , then known as Bibi, was to become a very big singing star in France a few years later by the name of Herbert Léonard. As for the saxophone player, I am pretty sure (and would be glad to receive confirmation) that it was... future International star Manu Dibango ( Soul Makossa).

2004 Invité de Patrick Sébastien

Everytime I am invited to the famous French television show called "Le grand Cabaret", I know I'm going to have fun. Well, it's true I have to go and rent a dinner jacket, because Patrick Sébastien, the MC, insists that we must all be dressed up. But I know also that I will be the naive subject chosen by some kind of magician ... once I was turned myself into a magician pulling live doves out of nowhere; that other time, a magician insisted in pulling a sabre through my neck... I don't know how he did it, but it didn't hurt at all !

2003 Sol en cirque

I gladly would participate more often in charity shows such as the ones put together by many French leading artists under the name "Les Enfoirés", but I understand they prefer to recruit big record sellers. So it was with great joy that I received one day an invitation to join Sol Si (a charity aimed at children victims of AIDS) for the recording of a fascinating and amusing musical work "Sol en Cirque". Even though I practically remained in the chorus line, I enjoyed the time spent in the midst of all these very famous colleagues, such as Francis Cabrel, Zazie, etc..

1966 Music Hall de France

Spring of 1966 : France is definitely cut i, two parts : those who are favorable to my explosive hit song « Les élucubrations d'Antoine » et those who hate it... A very popular TV show, Music Hall de France, will throw on the fire by i,viting me to sing it on stage...

2004 20H 10 Pétantes Stéphane Bern

2004, when we published my first film about Madagascar, (the second one, shot in HD, will be released at the end of 2010) I was invited on a very popular television program on tne Canal+ channel, in the prestigious company of famous photographer Yann Artus Bertrand ( Earth seen from above) and Swiss singer Stephan Eicher

1966 Le palmarès des chansons

April of 1966 : the lead title of my first LP, « Les élucubrations d' Antoine » gathers in France an extraordinary success, and French television's most popular programs invite me to sing it. The extremely popular Guy Lux, in his « GrandPrix » program, invites me to sing it, in front of popular french singer Juliette Greco, who will alwais be a big fan.

1976 Midi Ring - Guy Lux

Spring 1976 : For two years I have been sailing the Atlantic ocean singlehanded on board my schooner Om; this time, I have left her at anchor in French Guyane to spend three month in Paris, long haired, clad in a battle dress I have bought in a Cayenne army surplus shop, and sporting a real panama hat. Very popular television host Guy Lux invites me to sing a rendition of my number one hit « Les élucubrations » of which I have kept no other recording.

1990 Fou d iles chez Michel Drucker

January 1990 : I have been invited to co-present with very popular French TV host Michel Drucker a whole show dedicated to adventure; we have received several aventurers, and I sung the B-side of my « L'île bleue » single, called « Fou d'îles » or « Crazy about islands » No land interesses me if it is not surrounded by water, no woman interesses me if she wasn't born on an island...

1967 Antoine chante l'Auvergnat

In february 1967, the one and only French television channel dedicates a show to the memory of French TV personnality of the fifties, Jean Nohain, and I am invited to sing a song made famous by very much respected French singer and composer Georges Brassens.. The way I sing it doesn't seem to please the very conservative audience of the show, and the happy club-like ambiance I have recorded on the backing tape leads some of the audience to turn the whole thing into a big mess... It would take many more years until French audiences would accept that younger singers would record songs by their untouchable elders...

2004 With Lio

Autumn of 2004 : On the very popular French TV show « L'invité du dimanche » dedicated to French singer Lio, a woman I love and admire, Michel Drucker invites me to tell about the first time I met her. It is a chance for me to present her with a few pictures of my recently released documentary, dedicated to the island where I was born, Madagascar.

1988 Michel Drucker annonce l'Olympia avec les Charlots!

Beginning of 1988 : as I chanced upon the rock'n'roll group with whom I had recorded my first hits, in 1966, les Problèmes, we decided to record anew some of our songs of that year. French top TV person Michel Druckerforgotten that in the meantime, they had become les Charlots, a comic group who had encountered huge acclaim in several countries in songs and movies.. and I was quite surprised at the way they performed on that show...

1997 Avec Francis Cabrel

Fall of 1997 : as I have published the third group of three videocassettes in my series "Once upon un island", I have been invited by French television to sing my hit song "Les Elucubrations" with very famous French singer Francis Cabrel. After the "trash" version sung by Frederic Mitterand (who has become since the French ministry of culture) it is one of the numerous versions I should gather one day on a DVD..

2009 Charlie Brown

During a great show on the France 2 Channel with Michel Drucker, I was invited to sing a French version of the Brazilian song Meu amigo Charlie Brown, which I had recorded in Rio when I moored there with my schooner Om in 1975; I have kept good memories o

The most beautiful islands in the world. For 40 years, I made documentaries in the most beautiful islands on the most beautiful places on the planet.